Reviews

September 2004

*****

“Albery's interpretation very much makes this Captain Vere's tragedy, and Philip Langridge movingly portrays his wrestling with his moral dilemma and his pitiful reincarnation as a Forsterian elderly, broken man. Thomas Allen had already been playing Billy for a decade or more by this stage... but his voice was still sounding agile and youthful. Richard Van Allan's Claggart is gripping... a great theatrical experience...”

2010

***

“The performance... is outstanding, with Philip Langridge as Captain Vere, interpreting the role in a strikingly different way from Peter Pears...but just as magnetically...the power not just of [Allen's] singing but of his acting too, with the voice clear and fresh, makes his performance deeply moving...[Claggart] is superbly taken here with terrifying intensity by Richard Van Allan”